


Lakeside Summer

by Star_Trails



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: College, F/M, Older Dipper Pines, Older!Dipper, Slow Burn, Summer Adventure, frat party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-04-11 19:41:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4449701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Trails/pseuds/Star_Trails
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper Pines, now a college student, spends his summers traveling around the US looking for anomalies and paranormal activity. He travels to upstate New York in a sleepy lakeside town. He befriends two unusual girls through unusual circumstances, and they give them a tour of their town, filled with water creatures that lurk on the shoreline. The more he stays in this town, the more he becomes charmed by a resident named Elle. Unfortunately, the more he says in town, the more dangerous it seems to be as well. Will he find out the mysteries of the town, or will the town consume him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

The trunk of the car slammed shut, and Dipper slid into the driver’s seat. After spending a short week home from college for the summer, he was on the road again. As soon as he got his license and his own car when he went to college, he would go on adventures whenever possible. It started with short ones around his college’s town on the weekends, and became longer ones during the summer. The latter ones would be trips to different states, checking out whatever paranormal activity he could find. He’d research local legends and scour social media for any weird things he could find and plot out his route accordingly. Once he found a place he was interested in, he’d start mapping out his journey.

This summer, he was going to New York. Upstate New York to be more precise. As much as he wanted to visit the city at some point, he figured Mabel would kill him if he went without her. And Mabel was up in Gravity Falls this summer with Pacifica. He was there when Mabel got the call from her old nemesis-turned-friend about her parent’s passing. Mabel had promised that she would come up to Gravity Falls within the next day and stay with her.

“Sorry, I don’t think I can go on this summer’s adventure bro-bro” she sounded sympathetic. 

Dipper knew she felt guilty about not seeing him as much as she would like. They went to schools that were only about a half hour away from one another but it was still hard to meet up and hang out. They were both pretty busy during the school year. Their summer excursions were their time to catch up and be the mystery twins again.

“It’s fine,” he assured her, knowing that Pacifica needed her more than he did. She promised to call and Skype when she could, and he did the same. She had left the morning before him, giving him a big hug, a mix CD, and a pack of Pitt Cola for the road. 

He almost wished he had gone to Gravity Falls with her, he missed that old town. He would go to visit Grunkle Stan on the weekends with Mabel sometimes, when he had a free moment at school. Soos had moved to Portland with Melody, he had heard they were engaged now. Wendy went away to college and never really looked back. He was friend with her on Facebook and she’d message him from time to time. The only ones that were really still around were Mabel’s friends, because they’d be home for the summers. It was so bizarre to think almost ten years had passed since they were first in the town, so much had changed since then. How much HE’D changed since then.

Dipper had grown, a lot. He was taller now, much to Mabel’s dismay she could no longer boast that she was the tallest of the two, seeing that he towered a good 5 inches over her. His voice had finally stopped cracking and he had grown facial hair that was just scruff most of the time because he could never find enough time to shave. He never really worked out, but had grown into his body more, and was a little more confident with himself.

He would have gone back to Gravity Falls with his sister, but she insisted he go on his adventure, saying he had already seen everything in Oregon and he would be too bored. He knew she was right, so he devoted his summer to exploring new territories and researching the paranormal. So it was time for the long drive to New York to begin. He turned on the radio, which played the summer anthem of the year, and started the car.

The drive from California to New York was a little over 40 hours, so he took plenty of stops along the way. He usually had Mabel to help him pass the time, with their impromptu karaoke and her begging to stop at any and every roadside stand they came across. He still stopped by a few roadside stands out of habit, picking up some fruit to eat here and there. He would sleep in the car at rest stops along the way, not wanting to spend money on hotels. The first one was in Utah. The scenery was pretty, but he was too tired to care. He promptly fell asleep after setting up his bed in the car. He woke up the following morning, realizing that the rest are had a food court. 

He excitedly went in, washed up, changed his shirt, and bought a bacon egg and cheese bagel from the coffee shop, along with a large coffee. He savored the warm meal as much as he could before he knew he had to get back on the road.

Some of the scenery was familiar on the drive, especially the midwest, where he and Mabel has journeyed to the summer before. But the more east he drove, the more excited he became to see new terrain. There were more rest stops and more fast-food meals along the way, and pretty soon even the air felt different some how, maybe because he was driving by the Great Lakes. It was definitely a change from the endless fields he had been driving by. The trees seemed to be not as tall as they were on the west coast and were filled with the promise of new mysteries for him to discover. 

The one thing that was remaining the same was the songs on the radio. The same pop hits came out of his speaker, no matter where he went in the U.S. It was fine for the first day or so, but around the time that he passed Illinois, he couldn’t do it anymore. He switched the to CD Mabel made him, and was instantly taken back to their summers in Gravity Falls. It was all the songs they would hear during their summers, and a few thrown in there just for him. He belted out to BABBA, with no one around to judge him. The sun was lowering in the sky when he was on the last stretch of the journey. By the time he pulled into the town limits, it was dark.

Oswego was a college town, located right on Lake Ontario. Dipper chose it because he thought it would be so different from what he had seen before. The east coast was built up much sooner than the west, insuring lots of historic lore and legend that had to have some explantation. The college would have a library for him to check out, and the lake will be nice for cooling down when he was relaxing. He pulled onto a side road, taking a detour to get a closer look at the lake. He turn off the engine, got out of his car, and stretched himself out. He walked onto the beach, which was rocky instead of sandy. He let the cool air coming in from the lake wash over him, taking off his cap so he could feel it in his hair. He took a deep breath through his nose, and watched the sun set over the lake.

He was here.


	2. Garlic Knots

After basically living out of a car for the last few days, the first thing on Dipper’s mind was food. Good food. As he drove down the main street of the town, he eyed the various eateries. It was just after sunset, and the locals were few and far between, most probably in their homes settling down for the night. He stopped outside a pizzeria, parking his car at one of the meters. 

He entered through the glass doors, making the bell attached to them ring, and took a good look at the place. It was clean enough, with a scatter of small tables and chairs around the small eating area. No one was sitting in the restaurant, making it eerily quiet. There was a long counter on one side of the pizzeria, displaying the various pies from behind glass. The pies were glistening with cheeses and vegetables and meats go all kinds, making Dipper’s stomach growl. Suddenly. the counter girl appeared from the back.

“Hey, what can I help you with?” she asked brightly. She looked around Dipper’s age, with eyes so brown they almost looked black. She had a pointy face, and a slight frame that was almost swallowed up by the apron she had to wear. Her dark hair was pulled off her face and into a ponytail, barely contrasting with her pale skin. The combination of her hair and skin color made her eyes look even more dark and unsettling. 

“Uhhhhh” he replied, too busy trying to figure out what was so off-putting about this girl. 

“Don’t worry, take your time” she giggled, smiling.

There is was. 

When she smiled, she revealed a pair of very sharp canines. A shiver ran down Dipper’s spine, he realized who, or what she was. 

“I’ll have two slices of plain and an order of garlic knots” he said, trying not to show too much emotion. 

“Sure thing,” she said cheerfully, whipping two pizza slices into the oven. 

Dipper watched her carefully ask she moved onto the garlic knots. She put on gloves and very carefully picked up the dough balls with tongs and placed them in a basket. she was almost a little too careful. Dipper took the order as she passed them to him over the counter. He took one from the basket, and held it out to her.

“Want one?” she seemed taken aback. 

“Um. No thanks,” 

“You sure? You must get hungry back there, serving people food all day”

“My shift just started, actually, so i’m not too hungry” she said politely, but her dark eyes stared at Dipper with intensity. 

“Oh?” he raised his eye brows, he retracted the knot and started to put it back in the basket. “Are you sure its not because of allergies?”

“What?” was all she got out before Dipper pelted her in the face with the garlic knot. 

She screamed, stumbling backwards.

“Hey!” another voice called.

Dipper turned to see a girl walking angrily towards him from the front door, the welcome bell jingling behind her. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she screamed at him, grabbing the garlic knots away from him. “What gives you the right to assault someone with garlic knots?”

“Careful, don’t get to close!" Dipper snatched the girl’s hand away from the counter. “This girls a vampire, she could bite you!” he expected the girl to scream or gasp or run away. Instead, he got a face full of garlic knots.

“What she is is none of your business you creep!” the girl yelled at him, picking the garlic knots up off the floor to throw at him again. “See how you like it when someones throwing food at you! And garlic. Doesn’t. Hurt. Vampires. Stupid!” she annunciated her words with every ball thrown.

“Stop it!” he tried to shield himself, taking a tray off the counter to deflect the dough balls. He realized how ridiculous this was and held out his hand to surrender. 

The pelting stopped and he peaked over the edge of the tray and saw the very angry girl with her fist containing another knot ready to be thrown.

“You know she's a vampire?” he asked quietly

“Obviously” she said angrily, “and she's not dangerous, I don't need your help” she set the garlic knot down, grabbing a napkin and wiping her hands off.

The vampire girl stood back up off the floor, rubbing the grease from the knot off her face, looking miffed.

“Im so sorry, did I hurt you?” Dipper asked, a little embarrassed at what he had just done. 

“I’m fine, as she said, garlic doesn't actually affect vampires” she glared.

“But then why were you wearing gloves and using tongs to pick them up? And you screamed when I threw it at you”

“Because you threw food at me, you idiot” she said flatly, grinding her teeth. “And excuse me for not wanting to get hands full of grease while I serve people food”

Now Dipper was really embarrassed. He dropped to the floor and started picking up the knots, throwing them out after. Without the word, the pizza vampire took his slices out of the oven and plopped them down on his tray/shield. The three of them stood awkwardly, staring at one another, clearly thinking about how ridiculous their interaction had just been.

“Foods on me?” he said bashfully, staring at the two girls. 

They just looked at each other, then nodded.

____________

Dipper sat across from the two girls at one of the tables in the empty pizzeria. He had his pizza slices in front of him, and had gotten the girl a slice as well. The vampire had diet coke. No garlic knots in sight this time.

They sat in silence for the first few minutes, unsure of how to start to communicate. The only noise coming from the radio playing an alternative rock station in the background and the low buzzing from the neon sign in the window of the shop. Dipper cleared his throat, vampire sucked down her diet coke and the girl stared suspiciously at Dipper, making him nervous that she might start throwing food at him again any second now.

“Uh, so-“

“How do you vampires are real?” the girl asked, cutting him off.

“Uhhhhh I-I mean I didn't really until tonight, I just kind of assumed-” He said, taken aback

“Thats rude of you, assuming people are monsters?”

Dipper felt his face grow red, this girl really had it out for him.

“I mean, I've seen a lot of weird stuff so I just kind of figured it was another weird-”

“So you think she's weird then?” the girl cocked her eyebrows at him. Vampire snorted and Dipper could feel his face getting redder.

“Well, yeah-I mean-yes but no. Look, I grew up around a lot of weird activity and I took an interest in it. Most people think I’m insane but if I’m sure you must know some stuff if your friend is a vampire”

“My names Alice” the vampire said firmly

“Sorry, Alice. And you are?” he asked looking at the angry girl.

“Elle”

“Nice to meet you both, I’m Dipper. Look, I can show you some of my journals. I keep a record of the paranormal stuff I see,” he said, pulling a few out of his bag. The girls opened them gently, looking at his various notes and sketches of his encounters.

“Look, we’ve seen that before” Elle mumbled, pointing so something in the journal Alice was holding. She just nodded. He watched as the girls continued to flip through the journals, pointing at the drawings and mumbling among themselves until finally they closed them and passed them back to him.

“We believe you” Elle stated, still sounding a little chilly. Still, Dipper gave a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad you get it. I’m here for a few weeks for the summer, I want to see what the east coast has to offer in the paranormal field. I heard there was some weird stuff going on in this area”

“You heard right, you’ll have fun down at the shore” Alice stated.

“And there are other little things around town too, nothing really scary though” Elle finished.

“You girls seem pretty aware of what goes on around here” Dipper noted. The girls nodded.

“We like to know what goes on in this town” Elle said.

“Maybe we can show him around” Alice said. Elle shot her a warning look, she just shrugged it off.

“I’d like that, if you guys were willing”

“Of course we are, we’ll take you to Fort Ontario” Alice said, nudging Elle, who’s eyebrows shot up upon hearing this.

“Really?” Dipper and Elle said at the same time, but for different reasons.

“It’s settled then, we take you to the park tomorrow. Lets say around noon?” Alice said, making contact with Dipper with her dark eyes.

“Sure, sounds like a plan, but- can you, you know, be out in the sun though?” 

“Another stupid legend, we don’t literally burn in the sunlight, just get really shitty sunburns. It’s supposed to be cloudy tomorrow so I should be fine” she waved it off. “I have to get back to work and Elle should probably be getting home. She had just come to say hi to me but then garlic knots got involved”

Dipper cringed at his previous actions. He had acted very rash and was a little ashamed of himself. He prided himself on being such a rational person but had just tried to harm a harmless vampire with Italian food.

“Again, I’m very sorry. To both of you” he said “And I’m grateful that you understand what I’m doing here and that you're willing to show me around”

“No problem” Elle said, finishing the last of her pizza

“I should get going now, I’ll meet you guys at the park at noon?” the girls nodded and he got up to go to the door “Oh, what are we going to be looking at exactly?”

Alice gave a little smile, bearing her fangs once more “You’ll see”

_____________

Dipper slept in his car that night, parked in a parking garage somewhere in town. He lowered the drivers seat to be almost like a bed and grabbed the pillow and blanket he had thrown into the back of his car. He’d maybe try to find a motel or some place to stay in tomorrow but for now, he was too tired now. Besides, he had slept in his car the whole way there. Whats one more night?

He started thinking about the girls he had met today. Alice was not what he thought a vampire would be like. Hell, he didn’t even anticipate running into a vampire! He would have a lot of questions for her. He thought about her eyes and how shark-like they were, you couldn’t even see her pupils. He wondered if that was just how she looks or if it was part of her process. How long had she been alive? When did she change? Has she been in Oswego the whole time? He made a mental note to write down his questions to ask her sometime.

Then he thought about Elle. Who had pelted him, a complete stranger, with garlic knots in order to defend her friend. She certainly seemed to be a force of nature. He started thinking about how her eyes had so much fire in them, and how her stare was intense in way different from Alice’s. Her eyes were green, a darker green. With brown around the iris. She was slightly taller than Alice, and her body was a little more fuller than her too (probably because she ate, vampires seemed to be on a liquid diet). Her hair was a darker blonde, which highlighted the little trail of freckles she had across her nose, which looked a little pink (maybe a sunburn?). He felt his face grow warm when he thought about how intense she had been towards him just an hour ago, it was scary in a good way. He wanted to get to know her better. But she seemed much more cautious around him, which was understandable. He DID try to harm her friend.

He hoped that she would warm up to him, it would be nice having people around who he could explore with. He looked out his window and saw the skyline of the sleepy little town and considered what he might see tomorrow, slowly falling asleep.


	3. Seagull Endtrails

Elle woke up the next morning in her apartment. For a moment, she had thought everything that had happened last night was a dream. A really weird dream. Until Alice opened her bedroom door and opened her blinds, letting the sunlight stream in at full force. 

“Rise and shine! We’ve got a tour to give!” Elle groaned in response and shoved the covers over her head. “C’mon, if you get up now we can get Dunkin’” 

Elle contemplated the iced coffee her body craved and rolled out of bed, heading towards her closet. She couldn’t believe her friend had agreed to taking this weird kid around town, and that she was roped into going. She was looking forward to doing nothing on her day off and now she had to get dressed and be a person.

She opened the curtain that closed her make-shift closet and started at her clothing choices with half-open eyes. It was supposed to be colder out, so she grabbed skinny jeans, wiggling into them, and fastening the button at the fly. She put on her flannel, rolling up the sleeves to her forearms. Slipping into a pair of duck boots, she grabbed her purse and phone and went to meet Alice in the living room. 

She paused at her bedroom door for a moment, taking a deep breath. Why did she have to go to this? She could just go back into bed now and tell Alice to go without her. They hadn't even seen the creature they were about to take this kid to see. How did they know if it was real? She more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became. She heard Alice call her from the living room and she grumbled to herself and decided to join her friend. Only for the iced coffee though.

 

Her roommate was standing in the center of the living room, ready to go. To shield herself from the sun, Alice wore her floppy-brimmed hat (“thank god these came into style!”), black maxi dress and maroon sweater. She threw her oversized sunglasses on as she opened the front door. She was extremely stylish for even a normal person. She was meticulous with her hair and make up as always, with her hair flowing down her shoulders and her lips the perfect shade of red. She was the only person (or vampire) Elle knew that would get that dressed up to go monster hunting. Her friend gave her a little smile as she adjusted the brim of her hat.

“Let’s go”  
____________

The girls got into Elle’s car and drove to the Dunkin' Donuts by their house. They pulled through the drive through, ordering their usuals; a large iced mocha and a boston creme for Elle and a glazed donut for Alice. Elle knew Alice didn’t really need food to survive but that she liked to eat anyways as a social thing. They pulled out of the drive through and set off for the park.

“So this Dipper guy doesn’t seem too bad” Alice said, taking slow bites of the donut.

“I don’t know, Alice. He seems a little weird. Like, why is he meddling around with all this paranormal shit?”

“I mean, you’re one to talk. Your best friend is a vampire,” Elle nudged her friend as she maneuvered the streets of Oswego, heading towards the park. 

She didn't really go to the park a lot, it was kind of out of the way when she was at the University. It was a pretty little park, with baseball fields and a little forest. She had heard whispers of people discussing the creatures they thought they saw in the woods. She tried not to think too much of them, she had enough to deal with, her roommate being a vampire and all. They turned into the parking lot of Fort Ontario and put the car in park.

She looked at the clock; 11:45. She sat back in her seat and took a long sip of her coffee, savoring the taste. She swirled it around a couple times, trying to dissolve the extra sugar sitting at the bottom as Alice spoke again.

“All I’m saying is he just seems like a cool guy, even if he’s a little weird. Like, he said sorry and bought us food so I’m over the whole garlic knot thing”

“I guess. Well, we’ll see how he does with today's adventure. Do you think we’ll be able to find it?”

“The weather looks right for it” Alice said peering out the window, readjusting the glasses on her face. 

“Well there’s his car, so I’m sure we’ll find out soon” Elle pointed out, watching Dipper’s old car pull into the parking lot.

“Alright, lets do this then!” Alice said, getting out of the car, Elle sighed and followed her friend.  
_________

“Hey! Over here!” Alice called to Dipper. He got out of his car, threw a backpack over his shoulder and came over to the girls.

Elle got a better look at him in the daylight. He was a little under six feet tall, and had light brown hair that hung just the slightest bit in his eyes. It was a little curly, Elle liked boys with curly hair. It was peaking out from under a baseball cap. She could see a tan line on his forearms from rolling up his sleeves, no doubt from being outdoors hunting for monsters all day. Dweeb. He wore the same outfit as yesterday, did he sleep in it? He came up to this girls, towering over both of them.

“Morning, are you guys ready?” he sounded chipper. Ugh, morning people. 

“Yep, lets go!” Alice said, leading the path into the park “We’ve got some hunting to do”

They walked down the main path of the park, looking at families picnicking out in the field, and watching people fly kites. Eventually, Alice lead them off the path, onto one that looked a little worse for wear. 

“It’s a hard creature to find, but I've heard its worth it” Alice said, tromping through the woods with her combat boots. Elle was glad she had worn hers as well.

"So you've never seen it before?" Dipper asked.

"Nope, it'll be a first for all of us," Alice said, moving branches out of their way as they walked. 

“What are we looking for?” Dipper asked excitedly. Alice turned to look at him, sliding her glasses off her face to reveal a devilish look.

“A kelpie”

“What?”

“We’re looking for a kelpie. In Scottish mythology, kelpie are water spirits that usually appear as horses. They like to drown people”

“People have been seeing wild horses around the park, so we think there might be some kelpies in the area. Since we live right on the lake.” Elle explained. She was wary about searching for such a dangerous creature. Maybe she should have stayed home.

“We’ll be fine! Just don’t touch it or get near it and we’re good as gold!” Alice said, leading them into a clearing by the lake’s edge. 

The three looked across the clearing. Tourists didn’t usually come out to this part of the park, and it looked rather untouched. The grass was high and a breeze came in from the lake. It was a very peaceful place. Elle took a deep breath of the fresh air and smiled a little. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad after all.

They didn't see anything for a while, just the seagulls swooping down around the shoreline. The tall grass rustled in the breeze and Elle could hear the waves lapping at the rocky shore. It seemed almost like a normal outing for a while.

Then, she saw Dipper quietly motion to something across the field. Her gaze followed and she saw a black creature down near the horizon line. After focusing her gaze on it for a moment, she could see it was a horse. Dipper started to walk towards it, Alice and Elle immediately tried to grab him away but he shook them off. He took out his phone and got as close as possible without disturbing the creature, snapping photos of it. Reluctantly, Alice and Elle crept up next to him in the tall grass. They were maybe 50 feet away. Elle crouched down to be as small as possible, she didn’t want to get involved with this creature. But it was beautiful to look at. 

It had black, shiny fur with a black mane and tail. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about it, it just seemed like a normal horse. Maybe it was, maybe a horse just escaped from one of the farms near by and was just living it up by the shore. There was a lot of grass for it to eat.

Then, a seagull swooped down to get something by the creature. Without warning, it snatched the gull out of mid-air with it’s teeth, which were now revealed to be like horse teeth but much bigger. The creature then charged towards the water, plunging under while still holding the gull. It stayed under for a moment, leaving just a ripple on the surface. She began to wonder if had drowned itself. The water became still and the air was calm once again. The group almost started to move closer when suddenly, with startling force, it reemerged from the water, spitting up the gull’s endtrails, beak, feet and some bloody feathers up onto the rocky shore. Elle gasped, unconsciously grabbing Dipper’s arm. He looked over at her for a second, with concern in his brown eyes. Elle let go promptly and felt her face flush. She distracted herself by looking at the disembowled bird in front of them. She cringed, the metallic smell of blood waft through her nose. 

Their attention was diverted back to the definitely-a-kelpie when they heard a high pitched shrieking noise that sent a chill down their spines. The kelpie had fully transformed into its true form. It was still a black horse, but now with a seal-like tail instead of back legs. Its body was wet and slick, it’s tangled mane hanging in front of its glowing white eyes. Dipper started taking pictures again, trying to creep closer. 

“Stop that!” Elle whispered harshly, maybe a bit louder than she intended. She tried to pull Dipper back, and Alice pushed the both on the ground without warning.

“Shut up! It heard you and is looking for us!” she whispered, fear in her voice. They all laid perfectly still, barely breathing, not wanting to reveal their position to the beast.

At first all was quiet, then they heard rustling in the grass around them. It was a light noise, that gradually got louder. Soon, they could see the blades of grass rusting in front of them. Elle went rigid as she felt the air get colder around them. She had heard that kelpies were freezing cold creatures, able to give you frostbite in seconds. She could see her breath now, and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand. She felt Dipper shiver next to her.

The kelpie snorted, it couldn't have been more than ten feet away. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she could hear the blood rush in her ears. She looked to Alice, seeing is she had a plan. Maybe them running away? Alice shook her head ‘no’, and her eyes told Elle to stay as still as possible. 

Thats when Elle made the mistake of looking up. She almost screamed. She could see the tail of a horse waving over their bodies. It was so close, it would be any second before the kelpie noticed their presence and disembowled them too. She tried not to think of what it would feel like to be dragged into the icy waters of Lake Ontario, only to be torn limb from limb. She felt herself getting sick at the thought. 

She felt Dipper move next to her, she glanced over at him to watch him quietly pick up a rock that was lying in the grass in front of them. She wanted to scream at him to stop moving! He was going to get him killed. Before she could do anything to stop him, he lifted himself up slightly so he could hurl the rock at the tree line opposite of where they had entered. 

The rock landed with a crash, making the kelpie snort again and jerk towards the sound. They held their breath, waiting for the creature to make a move.

It began running towards where the rock had fallen and thats when Dipper grabbed both of their arms and hauled them up with him.

“Go!” he whispered, pushing them in front of himself, and they all began running to safety. Elle didn’t even bother to look back to see that the kelpie was doing, she just ran as fast as her legs could carry her. They ran through the forrest, shielding themselves from the stray branches on the pathway. 

“Keep going!” Dipper shouted, and Elle thought she heard hoofs behind them. She began to run faster, her feet feeling like they were barely touching the ground. They burst onto the main path and ran towards civilization. She could definitely hear the creature now, as it whinnied behind them. She sure hoped it wouldn't want to be this far away from water.

“FUCK” she screamed, trying to keep up her pace. She almost tripped on a fallen branch but managed to propel herself forward instead of falling. She saw the field of picnickers up ahead and veered onto the field, almost running into someones barbecue. 

She stopped short and looked to see if Alice and Dipper were still with her. They were, and the kelpie had stopped at the edge of the tree line, staring at them. 

“Is that a horse?” she heard one of the barbecue-goers ask. The kelpie gave a snort and vanished back into the forest and the three collapsed into the grass.

“Holy shit” Alice whispered “You saved our asses, man”

“No problem,” Dipper said, completely out of breath.

“I can’t believe we made it” Elle remarked, feeling the adrenaline pumping through her.

“I am never going back in that forest again!” Alice said

“Well that could be a problem, doesn’t your bio lab go on trips here?” Elle asked, Alice groaned in response. 

“Can we get out of here now?” Dipper asked, starting to get up off the grass. Both girls made noises of agreement and they slowly dragged their bodies out to the parking lot, looking over their shoulders to see if the kelpie was still there.

________________

They gathered around Elle’s car, Dipper looking through the pictures in his phone, Alice checking for tears in her maxi dress, and Elle still trying to catch her breath.

“Are you guys hungry?” Alice asked. The two nodded. “Wanna grab some pizza?”

“Yes please” Elle wheezed, “But I think I want to change first, I'm so fucking sweaty”

“You probably want to head back and change too, where are you staying?” Alice asked Dipper

“Uh” he stuttered, taken aback “I’m kind of. . . . staying in my car for now” 

“What? No thats not happening, you need to find a real place, one with a shower” Alice noted, getting a whiff of his shirt.

“He can stay with us” Elle said without thinking, all three of them raised their eyebrows in surprise.

“You don’t have a problem with that?” Dipper asked. Alice shrugged her shoulder and looked at Elle.

“I mean, he could sleep on the couch. He did just save our lives, i-it’s the least we could do” she stuttered and her face grew hot and she struggled to reason why it would be okay. Alice whipped out her phone and types in the number of her pizza shop.

“I guess we’re ordering in tonight then”


	4. Apartment Life

Dipper followed the girls home in his car, parking it in front of their apartment, not wanting to block them in their drive way. He turned off the engine and took a good look at it before getting out. It was definitely student housing. It was within walking distance of the campus, and could use a little work. The apartment was an older brick building, maybe able to house six different suites. He got out of his car, grabbed his duffle bag and backpack from the trunk and followed them inside the house.

They opened the front door, and followed them down to the end of the hall, where they stopped in front of another door. They unlocked it, and the three of them stepped inside, Dipper going last. They lived on the first floor in a space meant for two people. The first thing he saw was their living room. It was small, but clean. There was a couch on the far end of the room with a tv on the opposite wall. A little kitchenette was towards the back of the house, that was clearly not used as much as it should be. There were two doors that were closed over towards the back of the living room, clearly belonging to the girls. They all walked in and closed the door behind them. The girls motioned to the couch at the far end of the living room.

“This is where you can sleep. It’s a pretty comfy couch, actually” Elle said. “Bathroom is to your left. Theres a shower and a tub in there”

“Elle usually works during the day, and I usually take the later shifts so someone will almost always be in the apartment with you so no funny business!” Alice gazed so intensely at Dipper that is scared him.

“Yes ma’am,” he managed to squeak out. Alice smiled in response, baring her sharp teeth. 

“Pizza should be here in ten, take a shower if you need, but save some hot water for the rest of us”

Dipper nodded and walked towards the bathroom. He closed and locked the door and sighed. Thanks god he had found a place to stay, with a shower! He eagerly stripped down and turned on the water to the highest heat setting. The pipes seemed a bit rusty, but the bathroom was steamed up in no time. He rubbed down, removing any filth from the last few days, making sure to clean his hair as much as possible. He let his muscles relax and just stood under the water for as long as possible. 

It had been a long day, he thought. He had almost experienced death by kelpie, he shivered thinking about the fate he could have suffered. He was glad he had never encountered a creature like that in Gravity Falls, he might not have survived that at a younger age. He did some stupid thing back then, made some stupid choices. 

But that was then. He was smarter now, knew how to handle himself better.

He turned off the water and reached for the towel he had packed in his duffle bag. He dried himself off quickly, and changed into a fresh pair of clothes. He opted for jeans, a college t-shirt, and his hoodie. He made a mental note to ask where he could do his laundry later. Drying his hair with the towel one more time, he noticed the various products set up by the sink. Soaps, lotions and a contact case. 

‘Vampires cant possibly wear contacts’ he thought to himself. ‘Elle must wear them.’

He thought about how she would look in glasses. He took her to be the type to wear those hipster-y ones, with the heavy black frames. She probably looked really cute. He thought back to earlier that day, when she grabbed his arm. His heart had started racing, and it wasn't because he had seen a water spirit hack up bird end trails right in front of him. He shook the thought of Elle out of his head. He was kind enough to let him stay there, he wasn’t going to mess that up. He picked up his things and opened the door to the bathroom, and gave a little squeak.

Elle was on the other side of the door, hand raised as if she was about to knock. He was startled by her presence, and she seemed to be with his.

“Uhhhhhm sorry. I-I was just going to tell you that the pizza is here” she said, lowering her hand and stepping back so that he would have room to leave.

“Oh, thanks,” he said, giving a weak smile. He started to walk past her when she stopped to say something else.

“I just wanna say thank you. For saving us earlier. That was pretty brave of you.” she averted her gaze and crossed her arms over her chest.

“It was nothing,” he replied, feeling a little bashful “I just figured it’d be nice to get out of there alive”

“Yeah, definitely” they looked at each other for a moment. Dipper couldn't stop looking at her eyes, they were such a pretty green. He wondered how often she wore glasses. She broke the gaze, looking away again.

“Um, Alice and I usually watch Netflix when we order pizza, you’re welcome to join us. I mean- we are kind of going to be sitting on your bed so-“

“Netflix is fine!” Dipper said quickly, feeling a little embarrassed for doing so. The one thing that hadn’t seemed to change much from childhood was he was still bad at talking to women.

He threw his bag to the side of the couch as Alice and Elle pulled up a table to set the pizza on. They all crammed on the couch, Alice sitting between the two, and they grabbed their slices. 

“Whatdya wanna watch?” Alice asked, grabbing a thermos that was set on the table. She opened it and the unmistakable metallic scent of blood wafted out. Dipper decided to ignore it as best he could, he had almost forgotten that vampires drink blood. All he had seen her drink was diet coke. 

“Uhm- I’m down with whatever you guys want” He was trying to be as accommodating as possible.

Elle scrolled through Netflix, passing their recently-watched list. It showed some older films (maybe for Alice), some comedies, and-

“Duck-tective?” Dipper exclaimed.

“You watch Duck-tective?” Elle asked, looking at him over Alice’s shoulder.

“I grew up on Duck-tective!”

“Me too!” Elle said, cocking her eyebrow and giving a little smile.

“I guess we’ll watch that then, dorks” Alice muttered the last bit under her breath, taking a swig out of her thermos. Elle put on an episode and they watched intently while finishing up their dinner.

They finished one and let it skip to the next. And then then three more. Pretty soon, Dipper looked at the clock to see it was ten. It seemed rather early but he could barely keep his eyes open. He looked over, Alice was wide awake (figures), but Elle had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Wow, she looked really cute when she was sleeping. Alice looked at him, nodding as if she got that it was bed time, and woke up her friend just long enough to get her to her own bed. They shut off the tv and wished each other goodnight.

Dipper set out to make the couch into more of a bed. He had brought his pillow and blanket inside, which helped. He was thankful that he was just able to stretch out on it. It wasn’t too long before he started to drift off, dreaming of solving crimes with a duck.

______________

A few days had passed since Dipper first moved in with the girls. He really enjoyed living with them so far. He would wake up in the morning to the sound of Elle getting ready for work. She would bang around a little in the kitchen, grabbing her travel mug and a Cliff bar before dragging herself out the door to her job. Dipper had found that she worked at a tea shop in town, which was a problem because she clearly preferred coffee.

“It helps me save money,” she had told him “I’m not tempted to buy their inventory”

Alice hung around the apartment for most of the day, sipping either diet coke or her blood thermos. He had finally gotten the courage to ask her about it when they were sitting on the couch watching TV.

“I’m a bio major at school, i sneak it from the lab most of the time”

“Is it, you know-“ she looked at him, not quite sure what she meant. Or maybe she just liked seeing him uncomfortable. “human blood?”

“I mean, not usually. I don’t know why people think we can only drink human blood. Usually it winds up being cows blood, from the stuff we dissect in the lab. It’s kind of like meat, every kind of blood has a different taste. Its not like Im a vegetarian like those dumb Twilight books make it out to be, most of us drink what we can”

“Are there more of you in the area?” he almost didn't want to know the answer to that.

“Not anymore, most of them moved away to bigger towns, where they can be undetected. I’m fine here though. I’ve got Elle to keep me company”

“How did you guys meet?” 

“College. I was her roommate for this year. We were friends before that. I like sticking around college towns, they always got something going on. And I knew I could trust Elle to keep my little secret. No one else has caught on but you,”

He felt a little proud of himself. He asked her if he could write a little about her in his journal she she let him, giving him details about her life, her diet, and her statistics. It turns out she had turned in the 80’s when she was around 20. Vampires were naturally paler than most people because of their tendency to get major sunburns, and her eyes used to be blue but turned black when she became a vampire, she couldn't really explain why though.

She was certainly a fascinating character, and Dipper actually really enjoyed hanging out with her. They would watch daytime TV, usually Jerry Springer, and just veg out for a few hours. Then Dipper would head out to explore the town for a few more. He would look for weird anomalies, usually finding them closer to the docks and the shores of the town. He didn’t dare go near the forrest again, fearing to run into that kelpie. 

Around dinner time, he would come back home. Elle would be home then and the three of them would grab some food before Alice headed out to her night shift at the pizzeria. Dipper was amazed the place was open so late but the girls explained it was pretty common in college towns. Sometimes, they would order in Chinese or grab a microwave meal, but sometimes he would get lucky and Elle would want to cook. She would pick up a few ingredients from the store on the way home and whip up something for the group.

Dipper usually volunteered to help, even if it was only with chopping vegetables. She would get a little bossy in the kitchen, but he didn't mind. She was usually so quiet that it was nice to hear her talk. She would flit around the small kitchen, grabbing things from cabinets, stirring things in pans and tasting the food constantly. Once she was satisfied, she would call Alice in and they would all serve themselves. Elle would make the meat as rare as possible for her roommate and cook the rest for human consumption. Her cooking was fantastic, he was always happy to have a homemade meal.

He knew Mabel would tease him if she were here. She knew he was a sucker for girls who could cook. He had Mabel try to teach him how to a few times and he could do the basics but not anything fancy. As Mabel had put it, he had the science side of cooking down, but not the art. He finished everything on his plate, short from licking it clean. The girls offered him seconds, but he knew Elle took the left overs to work, so he declined. He would have to pay them before he left for letting him stay with them and feeding him.

After dinner, they would do their own things for a while. Alice would get ready for work, Elle would hang out in her room and Dipper would research on his laptop. Then Alice would leave and the two of them would be left alone. The first few nights she would stay in her room, only leaving to shower or grab some food from the kitchen. After a few nights though, she approached Dipper as he played out on the couch. He had been researching some local legends when he heard her voice behind him.

“Hey” He looked up to see her standing near the edge of the couch. She had SUNY Oswego t-shirt and grey sleep shorts on. Her hair had been swept up into a ponytail, and she still had her contacts in. 

“Hey”

“Do you wanna watch Duck-tective or something?” she asked, chewing on the inside of her lip. He smiled, excited she wanted to hang out with him.

“Sure!” He moved his feet so that she could sit on the couch and she made herself comfortable. They turned on Netflix and picked up where they had last left off. They watched in silence, except for the occasional guess as to who they thought the murderer was. He stole some glances at her from time to time. He couldn’t help it. She was so intriguing to him. The first time they had met, she was screaming at him and throwing garlic knots but since then, she’d been quiet as a mouse. 

He decided not to dwell on it for too long. She was probably just naturally shy and he had provoked her. He stretched, reaching his arms above his head and caught her glancing at him, moving her eyes back to the screen as soon as she was caught. After a few episodes, she had declared it was time for her to go to bed and scuffled back to her room, closing the door behind her. 

He tried to go back to doing research, but couldn't stop thinking about her. He put Netflix back on and found a show from the Used to be About History Channel and put the volume on low. He watched the crappy alien shows until Alice got home.

“You’re still up?” she asked, taking off her pizza apron. He groaned in response realizing what time was. “Can’t sleep?”

He shook his head and she sat down next to him. 

“Does Elle not like me?” Alice gave a little snort.

“She fine with you, doofus,”

“Are you sure? She’s always so quiet,”

“She’s like that around new people, she’ll warm up to you eventually” Dipper contemplated what she said for a moment. “Hey, just so you know, she was shy the first few weeks we were roommates. And we were already friends at that point. She's a very private person, but she’s a sweetheart,”

Dipper sighed and nodded his head. He was private too, he could understand that. Alice slapped him on the back. 

“Now go to bed, nerd. You need some sleep,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! I love getting comments and feedback so please tell me if you like or dislike anything!


	5. Getting Ready

Elle hadn’t been to a party in a while. Since the end of the school year, actually. She knows she didn’t seem it but she was a party girl. Give her a couple shots and she would be up dancing on the tables with the best of them. Thats why she was so excited when she saw that Kappa Nu was having a house party. Kappa Nu Beta was one of the frats on campus. They were big, they were loud, and they knew how to have a good time. She had gone to a few of their parties during the year and the guys knew her face. She had gotten the invite over Facebook and skipped over to Alice’s room to check to see if she got the same. 

She knocked and opened the door to Alice’s room. It was dark, as always. Only illuminated by the computer screen. Her shades were drawn and clothes decorated the floor of her room. She was laying on her unmade bed, scrolling through whatever social media website struck her fancy that week. 

“Did you get the invite to Kappa Nu?” Elle asked, trying to not sound over-excited. 

Alice switched tabs over to Facebook and opened the invite. “Yep”

“Are we going?”

“Its a little late notice, leave it to the guys to make their invitation the day of,”Alice rolled her eyes. 

“Please? You don’t have work tonight, and I don’t have work tomorrow, it’ll be fun!” Alice rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Yeah, I guess we can go,” Elle fist pumped and high five her roommate. “But we’ll have to have the nerd come too,”

She stopped celebrating. She had forgotten about Dipper. 

She peered out of Alice’s door to see him sleeping on their couch in the living room. 

“Do you think the guys will let him in?” she began to worry that he would get in her way of having fun.

“Not if you wear that top Rob seems to like so much,” Alice said, continuing to scroll. Elle debated throwing a pillow at her. 

She loved that top, but guys seemed to love it even more, which got awkward at one of their parties when she almost gave them a little show when one of the boys slipped and fell and used her as support. Alice laughed at the memory and reached for her friend’s hand to comfort her. Elle sighed and took it. 

“It’s going to be fine, I’m sure Dipper will act as some sort of testosterone barrier to prevent any more nip slips,” Elle swatted at her friend for real this time, eliciting another laugh. “Alright! I’m sorry!”

“It wasn't a nip slip,” Elle grumbled. Alice patted her hand and waved her off.

“You go to work, I’ll tell Dipper we’re going out tonight,” Even though she could be annoying sometimes, Alice was Elle’s best friend. 

Elle got up and grabbed her bag from her own room, closing the door behind her as she left. She walked past their guest sleeping on the couch, stopping for a moment to get a good look at him. 

He hadn’t shaved in a couple days, and couple probably use one. He was sleeping peacefully, with his hands stretched above his head, exposing his stomach. Elle though about how she had snuck a peak at him last night when he was stretching, but was too embarrassed when she thought she got caught. 

She took a longer look this time. There a little hair on his stomach, mainly leading down to below his waist line. She could see the waist band of his boxer briefs and wondered for an instant what he would look like without them.She instantly scolded herself for thinking about such things. She looked back up at his face quickly, to make sure he hadn’t woken up. She saw something on his forehead then, was it a pimple? No. She couldn’t tell what it was.

Against her better judgement, she crept closer to the couch. Trying to not breathe, she gingerly lifted his hair off his forehead. It was a birthmark! She saw the little dots that connected into the pattern of. . . . the big dipper, of course! She almost laughed, that made so much sense about his name.

Suddenly, his eyes began to flutter open and he started to stir under her. She immediately backed up and he woke up just as her hand had left his forehead. He stared at her with his big, sleepy brown eyes, looking a little confused. She felt herself grow very red in the face.

“Sorry,” She managed to squeak out before running for the door.

_______

Dipper wasn't quite sure what had happened. He woke up to Elle standing over him, touching his forehead. Then, she ran away in a panic. He was too sleepy to fully grasp what had happened. Maybe he had something in his face? He dragged himself to the bathroom to check.

He looked in the mirror to see that there wasn't anything unusual on his face, except that maybe he could shave. He splashed himself with some cold water and dried his face off. He looked in the mirror, running his fingers through his curly hair.  He saw his birthmark peak out from under his curls and he frowned.

That's what she saw. She was looking at his birthmark. He pushed his hair back in place and walked back to the couch. He still didn't like his birthmark after all these years. He still let his hair grow over his forehead because of it, and still hid behind baseball caps. He felt self conscious now, a girl had seen it. A girl he lived with. A girl he thought was cute. He groaned and flopped back on to the couch, pulling his blanket above his head.

"Not so fast, nerd. I need you and your car today for grocery shopping," Alice said, yanking the covers back down.

Dipper grimaced at the light that flooded his vision. He rolled back out of bed and marched to the bathroom to change. He threw on his clean pair of jeans and an orange t-shirt, sniffing it first to make sure it was wearable. He would worry about shaving later, he could tell Alice was set on going to the store NOW. He came out of the bathroom to see her standing there.

She was covered up, as usual. Floppy-brimmed hat, giant sunglasses, a black cardigan over her grey maxi dress. How many of those things did she own? She waved for him to follow her out the door and they got into his car.

“Now, we need to get some things for dinner for the week, but for tonight we can just get the out because we’re going out anyways-” Alice started, taking out her list as Dipper drove.

“Where are we going?” he asked, hopeful for another adventure.

“A party. Elle and I were invited, so you can come with us,”

“A party? They have those over the summer?”

“Yeah, lots of Oswego students wind up staying over the summer. So it’s inevitable that there are parties. This ones supposed to be a good one. Ooh, maybe we should pick up some alcohol so we don’t have to drink their gross PBR,”

“Aren’t you supposed to be 19?” He asked. He couldn’t even buy alcohol, he didn’t turn 21 until the end of the summer. 

“I mean, yeah but I’m like 60 in actual years. And I have a fake,” 

“You do?” Dipper had never considered getting a fake ID before, he really had no need for one. 

“Yeah, Elle does too. We like to go to bars and stuff on the weekends and you need to be 21 to get in,”

“Well, as long as you're buying with a fake, could you get me some too?”

“Sure. Elle and I usually get vodka or rum. Can you stomach that?”

Dipper didn’t drink very much at school. Just socially with friends when they would play Drunk Mario Cart or Cards Against Humanity. He went out to parties at Mabel’s school when he would visit, she was much more into parties. He could handle his liquor well enough but had no idea how much these girls drank in comparison. 

“Yeah, that sounds fine,” 

“Great, we’ll stop by the liquor mart then on the way back,” Alice turned on the radio and hummed along as they drove about doing their errands. Dipper considered for a minute what he was getting into. He was in a strange town, going to a party with a vampire and her extremely reserved roommate, who he barely even really knew. Maybe he wasn’t doing the right thing, maybe he should back out for the night.

“You should see Elle when she’s drunk. She’s absolutely wild! Last time we went out to this place, she sang to “Don’t Stop Unbelieving” while dancing on their kitchen table,” Alice snorted at the memory.

If Elle was going to open up, maybe he should go after all.   
_______________

Elle came home in a good mood. Scratch that, a great mood. Dipper had got home only a little before her, after a long day of scouring the docks for creatures. All he seemed he find that day was fish, which was a little disappointing. He immediately went to take shower, scrubbing himself down as much as possible. He figured he should probably shave for the party that night and got out of the shower. He pulled his underwear on and un-fogged the mirror with his towel. Just as he got done lathering up and made the first stroke on his face with the razor, there was a knock on the door. 

He opened the door to see Elle standing there, wrapped in a towel.

“Are you done with the shower?”

“Uh-um- yeah, but I’m using the sink,” he said, suddenly very conscious of the foam covering his jaw.

“Well, do you mind if I use the shower then? I want to get in now so Alice has time too,” she was talking to him? Just a party put her in this good of a mood? 

“Um, sure,” he said, not really sure what else to say. She scooted past him into the bathroom and jumped into the shower. 

“Just don’t peek,” she said, taking her towel off from behind the curtain. “I don’t have garlic knots but I’m sure these shampoo bottles could do some damage,”

He immediately turned to the mirror and began shaving, not focusing on the threatening girl behind the curtain. The room started filling up with steam, fogging up the mirror. He would have to wipe it down from time to time in order to see what he was doing. He wondered if this was going to become more of a regular occurrence as he dragged the razor blade down his jaw, trying to focus on not nicking himself instead of her silhouette behind the curtain. He tried not to think of what she looked like naked, but it was becoming increasingly harder to do so. After another five minutes, he managed to finish shaving. He splashed water on his face, patted it dry and called out to tell Elle he was leaving the room.

“Cool, thanks!” she yelled back over the water. He quickly left the room, letting some of the steam escape with him as he opened the door. He closed it and leaned against it for a moment, taking a deep breath of the cool air. He tried to fight his oncoming blush as he thought about what he had just encountered. He pulled on some fresh clothes and sat down on the couch, breaking out his journal to distract himself.

He was working on his detailed kelpie drawing when Elle emerged from the bathroom, her hair curling a little with the humidity and her skin looking dewey with moisture. She was in her towel again as she crossed the living room over to her own room. She closed her door behind her and Dipper rubbed his face in confusion. How could a party have put her in this good of a mood? Did she actually talk at them? Alice must have been pulling his leg about how social she is at them. He yet again tried to push it out of his mind as he focused on his journal. He would not think about what she might look like naked. He ground his teeth and started drawing the kelpie’s mane. Thinking about the kelpie would calm him down. It’s hard to be aroused when you’re drawing a creature that tried to kill you. Alice jumped into the bathroom to shower a few minutes later, also in her towel.

They must feel comfortable around him, it had been like a week. He calmed himself down, thinking about how the girls trusted him enough to do things like that. He could hear Alice singing in the shower as he finished up his drawing. The doorbell rang and he could hear Alice yell from inside the bathroom.

“It’s the delivery guy, get our food!” 

He couldn’t tell if she meant him or Elle, but Dipper was closer so he answered the door and payed for the food. He set in down on their kitchen table, laying out the boxes of Chinese takeout for them. They remembered Dipper’s order of General Tso’s, which he appreciated.

Alice emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, her dark hair piled high on her head in a bun and her towel wrapper around her waist. She instructed him to call for Elle and to start eating. She would join them when she had dried her hair. Her bedroom door shut behind her.

Dipper got up from the couch and walked to Elle’s room. Her door was closed, as usual, and he could hear music coming from inside her room. He knocked on the door and waited for her to open it. The door creaked open a few seconds later and Elle popped her head out.

Her hair was still wet from the shower, flowing past her shoulders. She looked at him with her intense green eyes that were slightly squinted. She must not have her contact in yet.

“Uh, just wanted to say the food was here and we can start eating,” he broke eye contact, feeling his face heat up.

“Uh, yeah, ok. I’ll be out in a sec,” she closed her door and Dipper went over to the kitchen table and started getting the food set up. He heard her bed room door open and close again and her light footsteps come into the kitchen.

He was facing away from the doorway but could feel Elle move closer towards him. She came up behind him and tried to peer over his shoulder, where Dipper could feel her breath on his neck. He was very aware of their close contact and tried to pretend he didn’t notice. He moved to one side of the table so she could sit down, and he could compose himself.

“What did we get?” she asked, flopping down into her usual chair. She had put her contacts in and pulled her wet hair up into a bun. She wore some sleep shorts and an oversized hoodie with the sleeves pushed up. 

“Everyone seems to have their usual,” he responded, handing her a container of lo mein and her eggroll.

“Yeah, we kind of stick to our favorites around here. Broke college students don’t like to waste money and theres always the chance that you might not like the new food,” she explained, opening her containers and breaking apart her chopsticks. Dipper opened his container of Genera Tso’s and set Alice’s food at her usual place at the table.

“I get that,” he said

“You guys must have some good Chinese food out west, ours is pretty mediocre in comparison probably,”

“Yeah, the Chinese restaurant by my school is pretty good. Its a bar as well so I’ve snuck in with my friends a few times for drinks,”

“Drinking makes all food taste better,” Elle laughed, making Dipper laugh too. They sat quietly for a little bit, eating their food. Elle spoke again soon after.

“Whats your major? I don’t think I ever asked,”

“I’m doing Anthropology with a history minor, kinda ties in with the whole monster hunting thing,” she nodded in agreement. “How about you?”

“Physics” she said nonchalantly, slurping noodles.

“Really?” Dipper was taken aback, she didn’t seem like the type.

“Yeah, Its pretty cool, I enjoy it. Why? You think I’m not the science-type, right?”

“No- I mean- I guess, but-“

“It’s cool, I know i’m not the stereotype for science majors. There are some of us who leave the lab though,” she smiled at him. Wow she’s pretty when she smiles.

“Well, I think you’re pretty cool no matter what kind of type you are,” he said, internally kicking himself when he realized how it could be taken out of context.

Elle didn’t get the chance to say anything back as Alice emerged into the room, already dressed for the party. She had on a tight black mini skirt and a black crop top. Her lips were bright red, which accented her sharp teeth when she smiled. She slid into her seat and started to tuck into her dinner.

“Y’all aren't dressed yet? You’d better start getting ready at some point, I don't want to be waiting around all night.

“Yeah, i’ll get there,” Elle rolled her eyes, earning a playful smack on the arm from Alice.

“I figured we could use whatever is in the fridge as mixer. Dipper and I got rum for us all to share,”

“We have a couple bottles of coke and stuff in there, we could use that,” Elle said, reaching into the fridge to check.

“Can vampires get drunk?” Dipper asked tentatively.

“Yep, it just takes a little longer for the alcohol to get into our system,” Alice explained. “Elle is much more fun to see drunk though,”

“I’m not that bad!” Elle exclaimed, her face growing red, “You always exaggerate!”

“In her defense, she never throws up or anything, she's just super outgoing. And loud,” she explained to Dipper, who just nodded. He didn’t really want to get involved in the debate.

“Should we be worrying about you? Are you a sloppy drunk?” Alice continued, trying to find a new subject to tease.

“I don’t think so, I usually just get sleepy to be honest,” 

“Well no falling asleep on us tonight, we’ve got some partying to do,” Alice slapped his arm, laughing.

They finished the rest of their dinner with Alice trying to tell stories about drunk Elle and Elle cutting her off and correcting her. After, Elle went back to her room to get ready and Dipper went to the couch to go through his bag. He didn’t really have any party clothes, so he just started to look for his pair of jeans that didn't have a hole in them. After, he found a flannel that was clean and decided that was as good as it was going to get.

Elle took a little more time to get ready, so Alice recruited Dipper to take shots with her while they waited. She wanted to take one for every extra minute it took for her to get ready but Dipper didn’t want to die, so he had her settle on every five minutes instead. Thankfully, they only got to 2 shots before she emerged from her room, ready to go.

It was really hard for him not to stare. Her black dress was tight and short and clung to her figure much more than the work clothes he had seen her in all week. Her curled blonde hair tumbled to just below her collarbone. If she had any makeup on, Dipper couldn’t tell, it was too natural-looking. Which he was fine with, because he loved the freckles on her face. She ran her fingers through her hair and poured herself her own shot.

“Bottoms up,” she said, tossing the contents of the class down her throat. She scrunched her face up and slammed the glass back on the table. “Okay the rest is gonna have to be mixed in for me,”.

Alice laughed and started adding rum to the coke bottles, giving everyone a couple shots worth. She handed everyone one, throwing her own into her purse and started heading towards the door, Elle and Dipper in tow. She locked the door behind them, tossing her keys into her bag.

“Let’s get drunk!” She screamed as they headed down the streets of Oswego.


	6. Frat Party

Dipper didn't go to Frat parties. 

Well, that was a lie. He went to one once at his own school. It was freshman year and his group of friends was trying to go out and be social for their first weekend. Dipper reluctantly tagged along. He didn't have a very positive view of greek life, and the party he had attended didn't really help.

Within five minutes of walking in the door, he had almost been thrown up on by a girl who had drank waaaay too much alcohol, and bumped into a very aggressive guy while trying to avoid said throw up. He spent the rest of the night in the corner, watching everyone else interact with one another, and dodging couples who were looking for a place to hook up.

He had some serious mixed-feelings about going to the Kappa house with the girls. On one hand, he didn't want a repeat of his freshman year, but on the other hand the girls seemed really excited to go. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad with them around. Alice and Elle lad him down the streets of their sleepy college town, casually drinking out of their coke bottles (that were mixed with rum). He was thankful he had taken a few shots before leaving the house, he didn’t want to show up to the house while still sober. He took a swig of his coke bottle.

The liquid burned his throat and he coughed. They had put more alcohol in there than he thought. Alice gave him a pat or two on the back, and he took another one, trying to redeem himself from nearly spitting out the first. He took the second one a little better, but still cringed a little after swallowing. He was already starting to feel the alcohol in his system, which was a nice feeling. He didn't mind drinking, he just usually did it in a dorm room with friends instead of going out. 

"Is your school big on partying?" Alice asked.

"Uhm, kind of I guess. But I don't go out too much,"

"Nerd," Elle turned to him and smirked. She must have been getting tipsy as well.

"Is Oswego a party school?" He asked. Elle nodded and Alice let out a little laugh.

"Big time," Alice said, navigating the residential streets "Theres a party every other day,"

"Do you go to a lot of them?" 

"Yeah, we go to a lot of them, Elle goes to more than I do, since I work at night,"

"She's a good wing woman," Elle noted, flapping her hands to mimic a bat, earning a nudge out of Alice.

“She goes out on Tuesdays, sometimes Thursdays, Fridays, and some times Saturdays when she can. I had the room to myself a lot,”

“Four times a week? Four days out of seven?” Dipper exclaimed.  
“Well when you put it that way,” Elle gave a little laugh. She was definitely tipsy. Her nose and cheeks were getting pink from the alcohol and her voice was getting friendlier.

They walked to a house that was more towards the college campus. It was a little beat up and broken down. Some of the paint was chipping and the front porch could definitely use some repairs. There were some greek letters on the front of the house, obviously put up by the student because they were slightly crooked. There was clearly a party going on in the house. All the lights were on and even though the doors and windows were closed, he was still able to hear the bass thumping. There were a few stray people drinking beers on the front porch.

"You get in round the back door," Elle explained, as they walked up the driveway. "And hide your alcohol, they don't like outside drinks because the house makes less money if you don't buy their beer,"

Dipper shoved the water bottle down his pants and took out the crumpled five dollar bill out of his pocket for the entrance fee. Alice knocked on the back door and a guy opened it just enough to stick his head out. He looked a little annoyed until he saw the girls.

"Elle and Alice! Look at this dream team, come on in!" He opened the door wider, so they could see the whole space. The door opened up into the house's kitchen area, where several people were hanging out. Solo cups in hand, they were mingling over the loud dance music in the background. 

"He's with us," Alice winked at the door man, pulling Dipper in with her. They shoved their crumpled bills into the guys hand, and he closed the door behind them. 

Elle weaved through the crowds, past the kegs filled with cheap beer and towards the sink of the house. She picked up three cups that were left unattended, which alarmed Dipper for a moment. They were half filled with lukewarm beer and god knows what else. He was worried she might drink them until he watched her pour their contents down the drain. She rinsed them out quickly and distributed them to her friends. 

"This way, we don't have to pay for drinks, just put your own stuff in the cup," He took the empty cup in his hand, slightly impressed with her craftiness.

"You do this often?" She winked and nodded at him as she filled her cup with her rum and coke.

An upbeat song came on and her eyes lit up. She screamed to Alice over the music that she was gonna go dace and wove her way through the crowded house to the dance floor. Alice shrugged and continued to sip her drink, showing no interest in joining her friend on the dance floor. Dipper decided to follow her lead, and leaned back into the fridge.

The two of them people watched for a while, listening into drunken conversations and watching people drink way more than they probably should. From where they stood, they could see people lining up for the kegs, and people lining up for the bathrooms. Drunk girls complemented each other's hair in line, while guys attempted to give them drinks. The door man was the only one who appeared sober, either letting people in or tuning them away when someone knocked.

The kitchen could probably have used some cleaning, there were some dirty dishes in the sink with hardened cereal milk in them, and the counter had what appeared to be coffee stains on a few places. The floor was sticky with spilled beer, which Dipper noticed when he tried to shift his weight and his shoe came off the floor with a popping noise.

He was really starting to feel the alcohol now. He had been sipping on his drink for what had to be a half hour, he felt warm inside and his eye lids began to droop. He felt more sociable and started conversations with a few people who walked by. Alice joined him when she knew the person.

Despite being worried before, he was having fun. This wasn't too bad of a party, no one had even thrown up on him. He took a quick snapchat to send to his sister of him and the color as Elle came back into the room, still bopping her head to the music. She had a big smile on her face and Dipper could see that her cup was maybe about half way full.

She was drunk but not too far gone. Alice didn't seem concerned so Dipper figured he shouldn't worry too much. Elle was trying to get Alice to go dance with her, but she was reluctant.

"It's not my kind of music!" she yelled over the thumping bass. Elle pouted and took another sip of her drink.

"You come with me then!" Elle demanded, pulling on Dipper's hand. 

"I'm not much of a dancer," he said, trying to pull it away. How does she have such a strong grip?

"Well, drink some more and you will be!" she laughed, pushing her cup towards him. She was really cute when she laughed. 

He took a few gulps of her drink, finding that hers had more of a balance between soda and alcohol than his did. He passed the cup back to her and she finished off the rest. She took his cup out of his hand, placing it on the counter behind him. Alice waved them off and the two disappeared into the crowd.

It was hotter in the living room, there were more people. The lights had been turned off so that the strobe light that was put in the corner of the room could be seen. It flashed all around the room, making it possible to briefly see the outlines of the fellow party-goers. Many of them appeared to be guys who were in the frat, as they were wearing the same letters that were nailed onto the house.

Everyone was drunk at that point. Even Dipper could feel himself slipping. He felt a warmness in his chest and a fuzziness in his head. He wasn't as cautious as he usually was. He had gotten seriously drunk one time when he visited Mabel at school, he had passed out and woke up the next morning on her floor with highlighter drawings on his arms and glitter just about everywhere on his body.

"You asked us to your your arms during Pictionary" Mabel laughed at him when we had woken up, "You couldn't guess what any of them were, you kept saying this tree was a polar bear" she had pointed to a scraggily tree on his bicep.

 He thought about how Mabel would have liked this party, she was much more of a social butterfly than he was. But here he was, actually having a pretty good time so far. 

Elle had let go of his hand once they had gotten on to the dance floor. He could have snuck away at that time, but he was entranced by her. She was dancing along to whatever EDM song was blasting out of the speakers. She looked so carefree and, well, different than the last few weeks. She had let her guard down and was there to have some fun. Dipper watched as she twirled her hips and raised her hands above her head. She seemed to be lost in another world.

He started to dance along with her, moving his body as best he could in the crowd of people. He was pushed to dance closer to her when someone behind him shoved into his back. She just smiled and continued, not seeming to mind their close proximity. He could feel her chest brush against his as they dance together. If he wasn't drunk, he would have pulled away by by now. But he was drunk. And drunk Dipper was enjoying his newfound confidence.

They were chest to chest when Elle stood up on her toes to talk to him over the music. She put her hands on his chest to balance herself, and her breath tickled Dipper’s neck.

“I’m sorry I woke you up like that earlier,” she yelled above the music. Her hair smelled like strawberries.

“Its fine” he said, remembering how she had seen his birthmark this morning. 

“I’m sorry if i embarrassed you,” she leaned closer to his ear, leaning into him further. “Its really cute actually, the thing on your forehead,”

Dipper blushed but couldn't help but be a little upset. He hid his birthmark for a reason.

“You don't need to make me feel better,” he ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to cover his forehead more. Now he was just getting self-conscious.

Elle moved away from his ear and looked him in the eyes. She had furrowed her brow and was staring up at him. Her nose was still pink and her lips looked so soft. 

“I’m not saying it to make you feel better, I’m serious,” she yelled above the music. “It’s really fucking cute,”

Before Dipper could say anything else, a hand appeared on Elle’s shoulder, jarring the two of them apart.

“Elle! I thought that was you!” A guy wearing letters said. 

“Jason, hey!” Elle hugged the guy and Dipper watched as his hands snake a little too low.

“Come with me, you gotta see this couple over here, their dancing is beyond terrible!” Jason took Elle’s hand and began leading her through the crowd. Elle looked back at Dipper like she was about to say something, and then she was gone.

He sighed and walked back to the kitchen to find Alice in the same spot by the fridge, talking to a guy who didn’t look like one of the brothers.

“Hey, where’d Elle go?” she asked, still sipping on her drink.

“Some guy named Jason went to show her something,” Dipper tried not to sound upset as he went back to leaning on the fridge. He checked his phone to see that Mabel had sent him a string of text messages, probably in all caps. Alice rolled her eyes.

“Ugh Jason, whatever,”

“Why?”

“Jason has been making moves on her ever since she started partying with them. She’s not interested in him but is too polite to say no. We’d better go check on her,” She finished her drink and put her cup down, excusing herself from her previous conversation.

Dipper started to feel guilty as they wove their way through the crowded house. He shouldn’t have let Elle go off on her own like that, she looked far too drunk. They went through the living room and the bathrooms to make sure she wasn’t there and then slowly made their way up the crowded stairwell to check the bedrooms. One of the bathrooms must have been upstairs because the line of people seemed to be waiting on it. After explaining to the very-drunk people that they were not cutting them in line a few dozen times, they got up into the brother’s bedrooms. 

“I don’t know which room is Jason’s so let’s split up, I’ll take this end,” Alice said, starting off down the hall. Dipper started at the other end, opening and closing doors.

He wasn’t finding her. He encountered a group of guys smoking pot in one of the rooms and a couple viciously making out in another one, but no Elle. Just as he was about to open the last door, he heard Alice scream “HEY!”

He ran to be at her side and to see what she had discovered. It was Elle and Jason on Jason’s bed. He was on top of her, holding her jawline, planting a kiss on her face. Elle was limply trying to push him away but wasn’t managing much in her drunken state. Rage flowed through him, but before he could do anything, Alice was at the side of the bed, pulling Jason off of their friend. He put up a fight to finish what he started, pushing Alice away with ease and moving to hold Elle’s waist as well. 

Without missing a beat, Alice took off one of her heels and hit him in the back with it, breaking the kiss. Dipper could have sworn he saw a trail of smoke coming from their mouths as the wind was knocked out of Jason.

“Fuck off!” he gasped, trying to swat at Alice, who hit him again in the chest. 

While Jason was distracted, Dipper swooped in and helped Elle off the bed. She was like a rag doll, her limbs started to give out and she slumped against his chest. She wouldn’t really answer his questioning of whether she was okay, which only concerned him further.

“Stay the fuck away from my friend!” Alice yelled, giving Jason one final hit with her shoe before hobbling out of the room. She stopped in the door way to put her shoe back on and shot Dipper a look to start following. 

He looked back to see Jason, who was obviously hurt but was smiling.

“I already got what I wanted bro,” He cackled “She all yours now,”

It took everything in his power to turn and walk away. 

He followed Alice down the stairs, letting Elle use him for support. They wove through the living room crowd, to the kitchen. They stopped to check on Elle one more time in the light before they left. She looked tired, she could barely keep her eyes open. Alice got her a cup of water and had her sit down in one of the chairs so she could drink.

“Do you need to throw up? Did he touch you anywhere? Do you want me to call the police?” Alice asked her line of questioning, letting Elle make small grunts of no in response between sips.   
“Woah, what's doing Electra?” the door man asked, coming over to see what the fuss was.

“Back off man, your boy Jason’s already on my list, wanna join him?” Alice said, putting her hand out so he couldn’t come closer.

“Woah chill,” The door man said, stopping short. “Is she okay? What’d he do?”

“Your boy took advantage of her and you’d better hope we don’t see him again,” The door man flinched at the anger in her voice

“Jason is out of line, man. The brothers and I will have a talk with him, don’t worry. Get her home safe,” he said, going back over by the door.

“Elle, we’re going to go now, do you feel strong enough to get up?” Dipper asked, moving her hair out of her face. She gave a little nod and started lifting herself out of the chair. She stood up straight, wobbled a little and started to fall over. Alice and Dipper held onto her on either side and they slowly made their way out the door.

They walked down the street, hearing the sound of the house party fade with each step they took. Alice kept talking to Elle is a hushed voice, telling her where they were going and that they would be home soon. Elle just nodded and re-shifted her weight onto them. The streets were silent, with the occasional car passing by and flickering street lamp. They made it back to the apartment in fifteen minutes.

“I’ll take care of Elle, you get some rest. We’ll talk to her in the morning,” Alice said, escorting Elle to her room. The door closed behind them.

He sighed and plopped down on the couch, rubbing his face to stay awake. The alcohol had made him really sleepy, but he wanted to make sure Elle was okay before he went to bed. He sat on the couch replaying the night’s events in his head. The alcohol. Hanging out with Alice. Elle pulling him to the dance floor. Elle touching his chest. Elle looking at him with those big green eyes. Her disappearing into the crowd before they could finish talking. How drained she had looked laying in Jason’s bed. The look of malice in Jason’s face when he had told Dipper she was all his now.

His hands had balled up into fists, his nails cutting into the skin of his palm. He should have hit him. He should have broke his fucking neck. 

Elle’s bedroom door opened, startling Dipper out of his rage. Alice walked out, putting her finger over her lips to tell him to stay quiet. She mouthed “she’s okay” and tiptoed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and went back into the room, closing the door as quietly as possible. 

He breathed a sigh of relief. Alice was right, there was no point in staying up the whole night when Elle just needed to sleep it off. He played down on the couch, pulling the blanket up and nestling down into his pillow. He would call Mabel about this tomorrow, they always talked when something big happened. His eyes fluttered close, still thinking about that night’s events. The last thought he could remember was how she was called Electra, and then he fell asleep.


End file.
